Uganda one of world’s top 2019 tourist destinations

Uganda is one of the world’s 19 ‘mustsee’ tourist
destinations in the next year 2019, according to a ranking by National
Geographic Traveller (UK), a reputable international magazine. Uganda is placed
16th on the ‘Cool List 2019’ unveiled on Tuesday, which highlights top
destinations chosen for their unique tourism attributes.

The ranking cites futuristic cityscapes and modernist
architecture to pristine rainforest and rehabilitated wildlife among the major
attractions. Four African countries (Eritrea, South Africa, Uganda and
Zimbabwe) have made the list, highlighting the continent’s growing tourism
potential. Setouchi city in Japan tops the destination list.

According to National Geographic’s citation, tourists who
visit Uganda will be enchanted by mountain gorillas, and the timing is right
since gorilla tracking permits will remain at $600 until mid2019. The lower
rates make Uganda a preferred destination compared to Rwanda, which doubled the
price of its gorilla tracking permits to $1,500 in 2017.

Uganda is home to over half of the world’s endangered
mountain gorillas. An estimated 1,000 mountain gorillas are spread across
national parks in Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Bwindi
Impenetrable Forest and Mgahinga National Park are the two mountain gorilla
sanctuaries in Uganda, while Virunga and Volcanoes national parks in Rwanda and
Congo are the other sanctuaries respectively.

Tourism is Uganda’s leading foreign exchange earner,
generating $1.43b (sh5.4 trillion) in 2017, followed by remittances from
Ugandans working abroad at $1.2b (sh4.5 trillion). Uganda targets to increase
earnings from tourism to $1.953b by 2020. Sam Mwandha, the executive director
of Uganda Wildlife Authority, said the validation by National Geographic was an
opportunity to attract more visitors, but also a challenge to provide a good
service.

“We are working to improve the transport, customer care,lodging and other facilities across the value chain so that tourists have agood experience when they come here,” he said.

The endorsement comes
amidst a push by the Government to aggressively market Uganda to the world
through its missions abroad, international expos and private marketing firms.
Earlier this year, the Government renewed contracts of three international
public relations firms to promote Uganda as a tourist destination in China,
Japan and the Gulf states.

The three firms are
PHG Consulting for the North America market, Kamageo for the United Kingdom
(UK) and Ireland; and KPRN for the Germanspeaking Europe. The three firms were
initially paid $1.5m (sh5.6b) in 2016 to market Uganda in North America, UK,
Ireland, Canada, USA, Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Players expect growth

Amos Wekesa, who runs
one of the largest tourist operations in Uganda — Great Lake Safaris — said the
endorsement by National Geographic would drive tourist numbers. “Every country
survives on endorsement. The endorsement means next year will be a good time
for business. Occupancy rates have shot up from 25% to over 60%,” he disclosed.

Wekesa said potential revenues from gorilla tracking were
huge and any campaign to draw tourists to Uganda would be a blessing to all
players in the sector. Apart from primates, Uganda is unrivalled on the
continent as a birdwatching destination with over 1,000 species of birds, many
of them to be found nowhere else on the planet. Earlier this year, National
Geographic explorer Alexander Braczkowski spent six months following a pride of
tree-climbing lions before they were poisoned at Queen Elizabeth National Park.

The explorer started a GoFundMe page to raise money to start
a fund to compensate villagers for loss of their livestock by predators, with
hope that lions and villagers will better coexist. A citation by National
Geographic praises Uganda for the steady growth of its gorilla population,
describing it as one of Africa’s great conservation success stories. However,
the prospect of oil exploration in the region, along with the influx of workers
and heavy equipment for the work, are also feared to force the endangered
primates away from their pristine sanctuaries.

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Lukwago Joseph grew up in a newspaper family, and rumor has it that instead of playing the guitar in his infancy, his parents put a reporter’s notebook and a pen next to him shortly after he turned born eight years.
Before becoming editor of UGANDANZ, Lukwago was a parliament news editor for WBS TV. He joined UGANDANZ in July 2018, A few months after the company launched.
Lukwago also spent five years as a freelance reporter, where he covered reporting for the highest bidder, intelligence, foreign policy, and Ugandan police.
Lukwago graduated from Makerere University in 2008 with a B.A. in Journalism and worked on his college newspaper.